Birth Control and Contraception

Birth control pills have been an essential tenet of reproductive healthcare since their popularization in the 1960s. The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the landmark case Griswold v. Connecticut, which outlawed bans on contraception for married couples, contributed to the pill’s growing popularity in the second half of the 1960s. Today millions of women in the U.S. use birth control pills for a variety of reasons, including preventing pregnancy, managing menstrual symptoms and treating medical conditions like PCOS and endometriosis.

All contraceptive methods can be used to prevent pregnancy, but only some reduce the risk of STI transmission. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 65 percent of U.S. women aged 15-49 were using at least one form of contraception. Common contraceptive methods include condoms, IUDs, cervical caps, and permanent forms such as vasectomies and tubal ligation.

Access to contraceptives and birth control is under attack by Project 2025 and extremist groups trying to ban practices that promote sexual health and well-being. Many anti-contraceptive extremists seek to spread misinformation and employ scare tactics to intimidate those trying to access this essential form of healthcare. Reliable information about birth control pills and other forms of contraception can be found online via Planned Parenthood, Bedsider or Guttmacher. For medical advice, talk to your doctor about deciding the best contraceptive method for you.

Keeping Score: Democrats Dominate Key Elections; Federal Government Reopens After 43 Days; ICE Targets Childcare Centers

PUBLISHED 11/13/2025 by

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week:
—Democratic candidates won elections across the country.
—At Crooked Con last week, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) laid out her priorities for when Democrats regain power in Congress: “We’ve got to fix the Voting Rights Act, we have to deal with the money in politics, we have to deal with the Supreme Court and we need immigration reform.”
—ICE targeted childcare workers and is accused of inhumane detention conditions.
—Nancy Pelosi announced her retirement in 2027.
—Trump’s approval ratings continue to fall, a year out from the 2026 midterms.
—Many popular lubricants aren’t safe for vaginal health.

… and more.

Fighting MAGA Medical Disinformation: States Must Confront Trump’s War on Science and Reproductive Health

PUBLISHED 11/4/2025 by and

Backed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz, Trump’s attacks on safe, widely used medications are part of a larger strategy: sowing fear, undermining trust in science, and exerting political control over people’s most intimate health decisions.

The administration’s disinformation campaign extends far beyond Tylenol. Officials are questioning the safety of mifepristone despite decades of evidence to the contrary and spreading the falsehood that birth control causes abortion—all while defunding Planned Parenthood and funneling taxpayer dollars to crisis pregnancy centers that mislead and manipulate patients. Together, these actions threaten to upend decades of progress in reproductive health and put millions of women at risk.

It’s time for a coordinated response. Just as states have joined forces to counter anti-vaccine propaganda, public health leaders must now unite to defend reproductive healthcare. State and local governments can share strategies, strengthen protections for evidence-based medicine, and push back—loudly and collectively—against the Trump administration’s dangerous campaign of medical disinformation.

A Call to the Muslim Community: Fighting for Reproductive Justice Is in Line With Our Faith

PUBLISHED 10/28/2025 by and

The Islamic ethical concepts of communal obligation (fard kifayah) and compassion for others (rahma) call on us to fight back against injustice wherever it arises—whether from within our community, or the cruel attacks on our bodily autonomy and accessibility to safe and affordable reproductive care, including abortion care. 

What Muslims need is nonjudgmental support grounded in compassion (rahma), the ability to consult (shura) experts with medically accurate information, and the agency to make decisions that align with their faith.

(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund highlighting the work of Groundswell partners advancing inclusive democracy.)

The Ripple Effects of the U.S. Retreat from International Reproductive Care

PUBLISHED 10/19/2025 by , and

The U.S. withdrawal of international reproductive health funding is already having devastating effects around the world. Clinics are closing, health workers go unpaid, and essential medications and contraceptives sit unused in warehouses while millions of women and families lose access to life-saving care.

These abrupt cuts are not just administrative—they are a direct attack on decades of global health progress, putting children, pregnant women and marginalized communities at heightened risk of preventable disease, unintended pregnancy and death.

Yet there is still a path forward. The infrastructure to deliver reproductive and public health services remains in place, and health workers are ready to act. If funding is restored, we can prevent the worst outcomes, safeguard global health, and ensure that the fundamental human rights to health, life and bodily autonomy are protected.

The global community must act urgently to reverse the harm and prevent a full-scale public health and human rights crisis.

Technical Difficulties: How Social Media Is Impacting the Landscape of Misinformation About Reproductive Health

PUBLISHED 10/14/2025 by

There’s a lot of unreliable information circulating about birth control—and it’s doing real harm.

The Trump administration is mischaracterizing contraceptives as abortifacients and using that false claim to justify plans to destroy nearly $10 million worth of birth control. For now, the supplies sit in a Belgian warehouse, their fate uncertain.

Meanwhile, social media is flooded with misleading videos about hormonal contraception, watched billions of times. This wave of misinformation is helping drive a decline in contraceptive use among young women that can’t be explained by access alone.

We know from experience that accurate, engaging storytelling can counter these lies—shows like East Los High have proven it—and the same approach could transform TikTok and other short-form platforms.

This Manufactured Shutdown Threatens Healthcare and Reproductive Freedom

PUBLISHED 10/9/2025 by

This is not governing—it’s sabotage, carried out at the expense of Americans’ health and freedoms.

In July, House Republicans created a healthcare crisis when they rammed through a budget that gutted Medicaid, defunded Planned Parenthood and put a target on the Affordable Care Act. Now, instead of fixing the mess they made, they’re steering us toward a government shutdown that will only compound the damage.

Americans across the political spectrum value these programs. Medicaid, Planned Parenthood and the ACA are lifelines in red states and blue states alike. People may disagree on politics, but they overwhelmingly agree that their families deserve access to affordable healthcare. That’s why the position to protect care and keep the government open is both the responsible path forward and the popular one.

Keeping Score: Trump’s Dangerous Claims About Tylenol; Government Shutdown Begins; Diddy’s Four-Year Sentence

PUBLISHED 10/9/2025 by

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week:
—Doctors push back against Trump’s dangerous claims that Tylenol in pregnancy increases the risk of autism.
—The U.S. entered a government shutdown, affecting millions of federal workers.
—Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to four years in prison.
—Zoologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall died at age 91.
—University of California students and faculty are suing the Trump administration for violating free speech rights.
—Student activists are stepping up to get around birth control bans on campus.
—Louisiana admits non-citizens voting is not a systemic problem.
—The ACLU and religious freedom organizations are suing to block 14 more Texas school districts from implementing a law requiring classrooms to display Ten Commandments posters.

… and more.

Virginia Will Choose Its First Woman Governor in November’s High-Stakes Election

PUBLISHED 10/9/2025 by

Over the next month into Election Day on Nov. 4, 2025, Virginia voters will decide not only the state’s next governor, but also control of the House of Delegates. The outcome will determine the direction of Virginia’s policies for years to come, and will send powerful signals about the nation’s political climate. 

The race is already historic. For the first time, both major party candidates for governor are women: former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R). Whoever wins will become the state’s first woman governor. 

Twenty-Five Years of Mifepristone: How Activists Brought the Abortion Pill to America and Changed Reproductive Health Forever

PUBLISHED 9/25/2025 by

At the urging of antiabortion advocates and politicians, and based on a flawed and biased report put out by an antiabortion group, the Trump administration announced the launch of a new review of mifepristone—despite 100 peer-reviewed scientific studies proving the safety and efficacy of these medications and safe use by over 7.5 million U.S. women.

On the 25th anniversary of FDA approval of mifepristone, reproductive rights supporters are celebrating the creative, determined and courageous advocates who brought this medication to market.

One organization that played a critical role in bringing mifepristone, known as RU-486, to the United States was the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF)—today the publisher of Ms.

South Carolina Is Trying to Apply Racketeering Laws to Criminalize Abortion Providers

PUBLISHED 9/25/2025 by

In an unprecedented move toward a total abortion ban, SB 323 seeks to apply federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) laws to abortion providers to criminalize the procedure and further restrict birth control. 

The bill, introduced in February and drafted by National Right to Life, the oldest antiabortion organization in the country, outlines legislation that would impose a near-total ban in South Carolina—where a strict six-week ban has already been in place since May of 2023.

A hearing before the Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee is scheduled for Oct. 1.

Jessica Valenti and Kylie Cheung in Abortion, Every Day called the bill “a shocking attack on free speech. Referring someone for an abortion would be a felony, as would sharing information about how to get an abortion. Pro-choice websites would be illegal … even giving someone gas money to get an out-of-state abortion could land you in prison for 30 years.”